Senior Research Associate: SOILL Step up

Lancaster University; Morecambe; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 46,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancaster University is seeking a Senior Research Associate to join the School of Arts on the 2-year SOILL Step Up project. The role focuses on evaluating and understanding the impacts of living labs across Europe, with emphasis on engagement, policy influence, and community involvement.

You will lead data gathering (surveys, interviews) and perform substantial text-based analysis to generate insights for the wider soil health community and the European Commission.

Job description

Senior Research Associate: SOILL Step up

Company: Lancaster University Salary: £39,906 to £46,049 a year Hours: Full-time Location: LA1 4YW Job type: Temporary Posting date: 22 Oct 2026 Closing date: 11 Nov 2026

The post holder will join the School of Arts, to be part of an exciting 2-year £4m interdisciplinary project SOILL Step Up funded by the EU Horizon program. This project will help evaluate and understand the impacts of 100 living labs across Europe are having in improving our soils.

As part of the landmark Soil-Deal for Europe, SOILL-Step up builds on the SOILL-Startup project for the implementation of the ambitious objectives of the Horizon Europe Mission. The aim is to establish 100 Soil Health Living Labs and Lighthouse projects. The project runs across 2026 and 2027 and aims to support and empower a growing soil health community in Europe. Lancaster University are one of the supporting organisations in this project with a focus on evaluation, impact and new engagement activities.

Key duties of the role include providing expertise in creative evaluation and understanding different dimensions or aspects of impact. There is no requirement for technical knowledge of soil health measures, our area of concern will be more focused on areas including effect on policy at local, national or EU level, or the degree of engagement with local communities by the living lab. You will be involved in data gathering activities such as developing surveys and interviewing members of Soil living labs. There will also be significant amount of analysis of this (mostly text based) data. Working as a team this analysis will be used to develop insights for sharing to the wider soil health community and the European Commission.

Lancaster University is a research-intensive university, ranked in the top 1% of universities globally and in the top 10 in the UK.

The School of Arts offers a rich and strong range of arts disciplines, includingArchitecture, Creative Writing, Design, English Literature, Fine Art, Media and Film, and Theatre. These areas are underpinned by a commitment to academic excellence, innovative teaching and impactful research.

The School of Arts is ambitious and creative and engages strongly with local partners, particularly in Morecambe Bay and throughout the northwest of England. We build on capacities to attract participation from academics and industry partners for significant events and projects. We are excited to play a role in defining the roles of arts in public life and discourse.

We are committed to family-friendly and flexible working policies on an individual basis as well as the Athena SWAN Charter, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education and research. Furthermore, we are active and progressive around sustainability, wellbeing and decolonising agendas.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme.